A Change In The Weather
by amandajbruce
Summary: And, that one day, it almost rained… but it didn’t, and I took pictures.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So, the beach party… I was inspired by Lilly's line in WIDLAY when she shows Miley a picture on her cell phone. "And, that one day, it almost rained… but it didn't, and I took pictures." I decided that day was more important than Lilly led Miley to believe, and it gave me the idea for this story. It's completely written, I just have to go through and edit the rest, so it shouldn't be too long before it's all up. It does mention a few things from my interruptions series, but you don't have to read those to read this. Enjoy!**

A Change in the Weather

Part One

***

Time: 9:00 AM

Forecast: Mostly sunny, slight chance of scattered showers, increasing temperature toward the afternoon hours.

***

Through half slitted eyes, Lilly splashed some milk over the cereal in front of her. The blue bowl was bright against the white of the counter top, but the glare she usually got from the morning sun was suspiciously absent. Rubbing those same eyes that were refusing to fully wake up, she picked up the bowl, headed over to the window and spooned a bit of the crunchy clusters, complete with nuts and banana flavor, into her mouth. She chewed and swallowed on auto pilot, not wanting to use any precious energy right now. It wasn't exactly a good idea to focus on the taste anyway, not when the banana flavor was being combined with the residue of her mouth wash. When her gaze raked across the sky, she wasn't sure if she should be relieved or annoyed at the weather.

A strange shade of grey painted the sky, clouds moving along like molasses spilling across a table. Except they were thin clouds, a few dark wisps here and there, having not gathered enough moisture for a good down pour yet. The skyline in the direction of the beach was clear, but the clouds appeared to be taking their sweet time to travel in that direction.

Lilly weighed her options. A: No rain meant the party tonight would proceed as scheduled and she could spend her evening hanging out with Oliver and various other people. B: Rain insured that she would not be walking around down at the beach, so no party and no Oliver, so no danger of her doing or saying something stupid. C: In spite of the rain, she could still hang out with Oliver at one of their houses, which would mean a confined space, and the increased likelihood of something stupid. D: None of the above, some sort of option she hadn't yet considered.

She wasn't sure which one she was hoping for at this point. Of course, staying up until almost five o'clock in the morning trading text messages with the person you were both excited to see and dreading being close to could do that to you. What had they even been talking about? The home shopping network. She remembered texts about some sort of giant cupcake making pan. God, she hadn't even cared what they were talking about, she just kept responding until she couldn't keep her eyes open.

She was doomed.

Doomed.

Then again, he had kept up the conversation too.

"Hey, honey." Heather's voice bounced around the kitchen. It was too loud and too perky, and Lilly wished that her mom was not a morning person. "I'm heading into work, so make sure you finish the garage for me, okay?"

Lilly nodded mutely, not really processing what her mother was saying until she had already grabbed a banana from the counter and got half way through the dining room.

"Wait… it's Saturday," Lilly called after her, turning from her spot by the window to do her best to hurry after the disappearing blond hair and bright purple button down top that accompanied the clacking of heels on the tiled floor.

"I know, but there's a problem with one of the lipstick lines, and a couple of the print ads might be pulled, so we're having a meeting…" Heather trailed off, smoothing out her skirt, noticing that Lilly was dragging her feet to meet up with her. "I told you all of this last night. If you didn't stay up so late, you wouldn't have all of these short term memory problems."

She gave Lilly a "mom" look, and Lilly opened her mouth to explain, then shut it again when she realized there really was no good explanation to give her mother. "I spent the whole night talking to Oliver about the shopping network because I couldn't sleep and I couldn't sleep because I was thinking about him" didn't seem like a good thing to bring up this early in the morning. Neither did lying and saying she went to bed at a decent hour. She settled for asking, "what about the garage?"

" Lilly, I told you," Heather started to remind her, then shook her head, "those boxes of your old sports stuff, I need you to figure out what you want to keep. Whatever can go, put those boxes on the porch. Oh, and could you throw in a load of your brother's laundry for me later too? I'll put it in the dryer when I get back, and I'll pick your brother up from whatever-that-kid's-name-is on the way home." Heather was starting to ramble now as she grabbed her purse and her keys. "And don't forget, we've got dinner tonight with-"

"The executive. I know, Mom. I remember that." Lilly rolled her eyes and ate another bite of her breakfast. The cereal was beginning to lose its crunch.

"I want you to look nice," Heather added as she clacked on out of the front door.

"Bye," Lilly responded, not entirely sure what her mother meant by that. Trudging back to the kitchen, she slowly finished her cereal, adding her dishes to the rows of the dirty ones already in the dishwasher, and being the good daughter that she was, she went ahead and ran it as well.

In fact, Lilly spent a good ten minutes standing there listening to the sound of the water pumping through the pipes and into the dishwasher, the pressure spraying it against the plates and glasses. It almost sounded like the washing machine. That same swirling, swishing sound, but it was magnified ten fold. And there was a little bit of rattling too. It could have been the silverware, or it could have been loose parts in there somewhere. Maybe they needed a new dishwasher.

Sighing, she gave in to her mother's request, deciding there was no point in changing from her pajama shorts and tank top if she was just going to get all sweaty in the garage. She was going to have to shower after going through the boxes anyway. Lilly pulled her hair back into a pony tail, and made sure her phone was still in the back pocket of her shorts. She'd always wondered why they had a back pocket, but short of being surgically attached to her cell phone, it was a good thing to have. Slipping on a pair of flip flops she had left next to the kitchen door, she headed outside, meeting the wall of hot and sticky air head on. It was times like this she really wished they had a door straight from the garage to the kitchen like Oliver's house did. Their garage used to, but it was one of those things that had been walled off when her dad lived with them and her parents were thinking about converting the garage into an extra apartment of some kind. That had obviously never happened.

Lilly reached down when she got to the driveway, retrieving the key from underneath a potted cactus plant. Everyone in the neighborhood likely knew they kept the spare key there, so probably not the best place to put it, but her mom was a creature of habit. She slid the key into the slot near the bottom of the door, turned it with a resounding click, then returned it to it's place under the cactus before pulling the door up, the metal rattling along the track, and scraping against more metal. It clanked to a stop when it reached a spot level with her shoulders, and Lilly ducked down to head into the dark room her family rarely used anymore.

The garage must have acted like some sort of heat vacuum, because after only one box of knee pads, shin guards, and helmets that no longer fit her, the cotton tank top she was wearing acted like a second skin.

"I can't believe I'm spending my Saturday morning doing this… I might as well be at the gym," Lilly groaned, shoving the first box toward the entrance to the garage before grabbing another from the section where all the old athletic gear had accumulated. "At least there are no spiders so far."

"What are you doing?" A voice piped up from the corner of the entrance.

Whirling around, and almost dropping the box in her hands, Lilly saw Oliver ducking under the garage door to look inside.

"Oliver?"

"You expecting someone else?"

"I was hoping you were the spring cleaning fairy," Lilly joked, bending slightly to drop the box on the ground in front of her and wiping her forehead with the back of her hand.

As soon as she straightened up, Oliver took a step back, his eyes wide, and the back of his head collided with the bottom of the door.

"Are you okay?" Lilly called, rushing over to him following his yelp, and what may have been a swift curse word.

"I'm fine," Oliver tried to tell her nonchalantly, but one of his hands was rubbing the back of his head when he looked down at her.

"You sure?"

She went up on her toes, trying to peer around him to check, but Oliver stepped out of her grasp, nodding vigorously. As he took another step away, his eyes traveled all the way down her form without him really thinking about it, a slightly dazed expression on his face. Crossing her arms in front of her, Lilly remembered that the sweat was causing her clothing to stick to her, not to mention the dust was probably coating most of her exposed skin. She probably looked disgusting. The thought made her uncross her arms and hastily straighten the straps of her tank top before brushing her hands along her shorts in an attempt to make herself look a little bit more presentable. She pulled awkwardly at her pony tail as well, trying to unstuck the hair from the back of her neck.

"So," Oliver started, clearing his throat when his eyes met hers, "what's up?"

"My mom asked me to go through some of my old stuff…." she trailed off, gesturing to the open box near them with little girl sized protective gear for skate boarding and soccer.

Oliver chuckled, bending at the waist to pull out an elbow pad that was bright pink, saying, "are you sure this doesn't still fit you? You're pretty tiny."

"I'm not that small!" Lilly protested, snatching it from his hand. "I think I wore that when I was five or something."

"Six," He corrected, his eyes widening when his brain caught up with his mouth.

"Oh."

They just stood there looking at one another, Lilly smiling a little bit, Oliver turning a little red.

"What are you doing tomorrow night?" he asked suddenly, tossing the elbow pad back into the box.

"Tomorrow?"

"Yeah… I mean, I already know what you're doing tonight…"

"Uh, I don't know, why?"

"I was thinking we could do a movie night or something…" Oliver mumbled, looking away from her, his eyes scanning the contents of the box again.

"Okay," Lilly immediately agreed, her smile even wider when she saw Oliver nervously turning to run one of his hands through his hair, then over the edge of the garage door. "I think that new Orlando Bloom movie's out now."

"No! No Bloom. Anything but him."

"What? You love action movies!" Lilly protested, surprised to see Oliver's posture stiffen, his jaw working at grinding his teeth to a fine powder when he looked at her. Lilly cocked her head to the side, watching his face while he struggled to respond.

"It's just, I don't, I'm not really a fan of him. He kind of annoys me." Oliver nodded his head swiftly, the hand on the edge of the garage door gripping it tightly. His eyes glanced away again, and when he looked back at her, his gaze followed a bead of sweat as it dropped from her temple to her neck. He swallowed when it reached the fabric of her tank top and his eyes snapped back up to meet hers.

Lilly took this all in, then made a small step closer to him, leaning her head back a little further to look him in the eyes. "Oliver Oken, are you maybe a tiny bit jealous of Mr. Bloom?" She held her thumb and forefinger a small distance apart just in front of him, her tone teasing, not at all serious, so she was surprised again to see his eyes widen and him swallow even more nervously. She dropped her arm to her side, still watching.

He recovered quickly though, leaning forward and meeting her gaze head on. "Why would I be jealous?" He asked softly, not wanting to answer the question out loud, the tips of his fingers on the garage door turning a stark white with the effort of holding on to it.

"I don't know," Lilly responded evenly, ignoring the blood pounding in her ears that she wished she could fool herself into thinking was because of the heat outside, but she knew was a result of their close proximity, "you just seem to hold this grudge for no reason." She took another step forward, the fingers on her left hand curling around the hem of her shorts, hoping the grip there would act as a hold on reality as well, keeping her from launching herself at him. She could smell his tooth paste and feel the cotton of his shirt brush against her arm.

"Lilly," Oliver breathed softly, his gaze dropping to her mouth and his body leaning toward her with no instruction from him, before he quickly blinked and started, "I need to-"

"Oliver Oscar Oken, how long does it take you to take the garbage out? You were only supposed to put the bag in the can, not go next door and flirt with Lilly," a female voice that the two of them knew well called out from the strip of grass next to the driveway.

Oliver made a noise that sounded almost like a growl at the intrusion, and Lilly immediately took a step away from him, sighing before she dipped under the garage door and stepped onto the cement. She couldn't catch a break. "Hi, Mrs. Oken."

"I was just saying hello," Oliver added, ducking under the garage door as well, reluctantly walking out into the sunlight that was now peaking around the thin cloud cover.

"Hi, Lilly," Nancy Oken said before turning on Oliver. "You're supposed to be doing your chores and finishing your homework. You don't finish, you don't go anywhere tonight." She pointed a finger in his direction and Oliver gave a small shrug.

"I'll see you later, Lils."

"Yeah," she agreed, watching him follow his mom back to his own house. She bit her lip as her eyes trailed him to the front of the building, then forced herself to return to the task at hand. There were still six boxes to check, and thoughts of Oliver were not going to help her get them done any faster. In fact, they were likely to slow her down to a snail's pace.

"Right, Truscott. Get to work."

It was only three boxes later though that Lilly found herself seated on the cool floor where a normal family would have parked a car, surrounded by odds and ends from the boxes, trying to figure out just why her mother had decided to keep any of this stuff for the last few years. There were those inflatable swim fins for toddlers, goggles that wouldn't have fit on her brother's head since he was about four, a set of plastic golf clubs that weren't even as tall as her knees, and a couple of fishing reels in the current box. No one in her family even fished. She had found a pair of bowling shoes earlier that were too big to have belonged to anyone that lived in her house. She was beginning to wonder how exactly any of this qualified as her athletic equipment.

Just as she was preparing to toss an infant sized life jacket back into the box, her phone began to vibrate, alerting her to a new text message. Thinking it was Oliver, she whipped it out of her pocket, flipping it open and scanning the screen.

_From: Miley_

_Message: OMG! Just finished shooting 1st scene w/ Chace. He told me 2 call him Chace! So cute!_

She knew she should have been happy that her best friend was getting to film a movie with one of the world's cutest TV stars, but she couldn't muster up enough interest to care. Miley was always getting to travel, meet new people, talk to cute boys… Besides, Chace Crawford was too old for her anyway. Lilly did the best friend thing and sent her back a smiley face and an OMG of her own, hoping that would be enough to satisfy Miley, but knowing her, she was going to be getting text messages from her at least once a day about how amazing her costar was.

Lilly sat there, staring at her phone, fingers tapping on the edge of the box, and she sent off a new message almost without even being conscious of her actions.

_To: Oliver_

_Message: What movie did u want 2 see 2mrw?_

After hitting the send button, she stared at the screen a little while longer, then set it on the ground, throwing the sports gear haphazardly into its assigned box. A buzzing on the concrete let her know when she received a reply.

_From: Oliver_

_Message: idk. U pick._

She chuckled to herself, knowing she probably shouldn't antagonize him, but she couldn't help it, responding almost immediately.

_To: Oliver_

_Message: Lord of the Rings?_

A few minutes went by, long enough for her to shove the latest box towards the garage entrance and get to work sifting through the next.

_From: Oliver_

_Message: No Bloom!_

Lilly giggled at the use of the exclamation point. He really didn't like Orlando. She could relate. She had been harboring some resentment for Taylor Swift for a while now too. Oliver admired her "song writing abilities" a little too much for her liking. Lilly knew what he really admired was the long blond hair and her supermodel height.

_To: Oliver_

_Message: OK! I'll think about it, let u know l8r._

She smiled to herself, flipping the phone shut and sliding it back into her pocket. It wasn't a good idea to get him all riled up anyway. They'd be trading angry text messages before too long, and she didn't want to get him distracted from whatever it was his mom was making him do. Then, he wouldn't be allowed to go to the beach tonight. Then again, maybe that wasn't a bad thing. Lilly shook her head, letting every possible scenario for the night play out in her mind while she sorted.

In one version of events, she spilled everything to him, her hatred for his ex girlfriend, why she stole his clothes, all of it, before they got to the party… and then he laughed at her, thinking she was trying to prank him. She knew, of course, that wouldn't actually happen, so the next version had her telling him everything and then him freaking out, complete with him pretending to be sick and fainting to avoid telling her he didn't feel the same way about her.

Then again, she reasoned as another box joined the ones near the entrance to the garage, maybe he would actually be mature about the whole thing, telling her exactly why it wouldn't work out, being reasonable and mature, and everything could go back to normal. Except that this was Oliver and reasonable and mature were not in his vocabulary. Which was one of the things she loved about him. His freak outs were always entertaining. She just didn't want one aimed at her.

He could try to lie to her. Use the whole "it's not you, it's me" thing. But, Oliver was never a really good liar, and he knew he could never keep anything from her. And anyway, she probably wasn't going to get up the courage to actually say anything. Not tonight. Not at a party in front of all those people. Maybe tomorrow.

There was always another possibility. One that Lilly didn't want to place too much stock in. She didn't want to get her hopes too high. He could, possibly, feel the same way about her. Maybe, just maybe, he didn't want things to stay the same anymore either, but was just as afraid of the change as she was. After all, he had tried to kiss her too. And he had issued the strip poker challenge. And he was obviously at least somewhat attracted to her. Lilly had eyes. She knew when he was checking her out.

She kept telling herself though, as yet another box joined ranks with the completed ones, that this could all just be teenage hormones. He was a sixteen year old boy. And he had never been very subtle when it came to girls. Besides, they were thrown together so often, it was normal to be attracted to someone that you were often in close quarters with, someone who was funny, who shared your interests, and wasn't exactly hard on the eyes. If that someone just happened to be one of your best friends, well, that was just a bridge you didn't really have to cross, right? She didn't have to say anything. Not really.

There was one problem though. If she didn't say something soon, she was going to explode. And it wouldn't be pretty. It would be downright messy.

***


	2. Chapter 2

A Change in the Weather

Part Two

***

Time: 3:07 PM

Forecast: Partly cloudy, humid, 50 percent chance of rain, climbing temperatures cause an increased likelihood of heat lightning even in the absence of afternoon showers

***

Fresh out of a hot shower, wrapped in a bathrobe with her hair just beginning to dry, Lilly perched on first one foot, then the other, practicing her yoga poses in front of her closet while she held the phone firmly against one ear, listening to the voice on the other end go on and on about this infamous party everyone at school had been talking about all week. She exhaled, resuming a normal standing position and eyed the rows of t-shirts and tank tops warily. Sometimes it seemed like all she owned were simple t-shirts and shorts, nothing fancy or girly like what you would find in Miley's closet.

"Are you sure they're going to have the party tonight? Have you seen what it looks like outside?" She thumbed through a few hangers as she spoke, looking for the perfect top, knowing full well that he had been outside just a few hours earlier.

"Of course I'm sure. Todd and Nick do the big beach blow out every year, rain or shine," Oliver told her through the phone.

"They don't do it every year…" Lilly started to counter.

"Okay, so Nick wants to follow in his brother's footsteps or something, and he got Todd to help him out again."

Lilly heard a clicking sound in the background as he spoke.

"Do you have me on speaker phone?" She asked crossly. He never warned her when he did that and she wanted to make sure she didn't use any language that could get her into trouble with his parents, especially his mom. Getting a lecture from her, or worse, being forced to scrub her mouth out with soap, did not sound like a fun time.

"Uh, yeah, but I'm working on that English paper. If I don't get it done, then I can't go."

"You're telling me this now? Why did you call me then? Work on your paper!" Lilly exclaimed, but she didn't hang up the phone.

"Chill, Lils. I'm like, halfway done."

She could picture him leaning back in his chair nonchalantly, trying to appear worry free, and then she heard it, the crash that let her know the chair had just toppled backwards. Lilly allowed a brief, but satisfied smirk to cross her face while Oliver cleared his throat, and there was a muffled shuffling as he righted himself.

"It's not like you wouldn't just go without me," Oliver muttered to himself, not knowing that it would be picked up by the phone.

"I'm not going to go without you! Who would I hang out with? It's not like I can call Miley up and chat about the party while she's getting ready to film a big action scene," Lilly chastised. "I don't want to have to hang out with Todd and Nick alone."

"Like I said, chill."

The smirk most definitely gone now, she rolled her eyes at his tone. "Would you stop telling me to chill?"

"Okay, okay!"

They sat on the phone in silence for a few minutes, Oliver's fingers clacking away on his keyboard, while Lilly continued to survey her clothes. Since Miley left to film her new movie last week, things had been tense between them. Lilly couldn't seem to stop herself from arguing with everything he said. She felt like she was stuck, waiting for something to happen, and it was frustrating her to no end.

She thought they had to "finish things" as he had told her when they played that game of poker, but neither of them had been brave enough to bring it up in conversation since Miley left. She had tried to talk to him about it once, but his Dad got home from work before she could force the words out, and she had given up. At least twice a day for the last week, Oliver would act like he wanted to have serious talk with her, gearing up for a long discussion, so she knew he had been thinking about this as well, but then something would make him change his mind. There were siblings or other phone calls, or parents, other friends cutting in. It was like she was never able to talk to him alone for more than a few minutes at a time. This morning in the garage had been a prime example. There hadn't been any arguing, but there was a tension, and his mom showed up before anything could be done about it. Typical.

Lilly sighed, trying to make herself be normal Lilly again. She and Oliver were going to a party tonight, as soon as dinner with her mom's new guy was over. She needed to be on her best behavior. Flicking her way through several multicolored t-shirts and tank tops, Lilly ended up angrily shoving them all aside. Her mom had told her she needed to look "nice," but she didn't specify just what exactly that meant. Maybe she could pop over to Miley's house to borrow something? Nah, she didn't have time to go all the way over there.

"Hey, Lils, how does this sound?" Oliver proceeded to read her several paragraphs from his supposedly half completed paper, then paused, waiting for her response.

"Not bad, although you might want to examine the gender roles too. That plays a part in the social structure of the families in the books too, not just the money," Lilly told him as she lifted a thin blouse from a hanger. It was girlier than anything she usually wore, and she thought it might have been a gift from her mom, which normally would immediately mean she would not be wearing it, but she was supposed to be making a good impression at their family dinner tonight. It was important.

"Hmm… good point," Oliver mumbled, clicking away at his computer again.

"Yeah, well, I pay attention in class," she muttered almost to herself. "Do you think I should wear a skirt?" Lilly asked him suddenly, turning to place the top on the surface of her bed. It would probably have to be ironed or steamed or something.

"To the party? Lils, you can wear whatever you want."

"No, well, yes, but my mom's making my brother and I go to dinner with this guy, and she said I had to look nice."

The typing on the other end of the line stopped. She could hear Oliver's breathing, but he didn't say a word.

"It's an early dinner, way before the party," Lilly added, not sure why she was trying to reassure him about her dinner plans, "and we aren't going anywhere super fancy, I just don't know what she meant by nice."

"I don't know," Oliver paused, trying to figure out what he was supposed to say. "When my mom tells me I have to look nice, she makes me wear a tie and everything."

"Like I said, it isn't fancy, but…. Do you think I should wear a dress or something? I only have a couple of them." She waited, eying her shoes now.

"I think you should just wear whatever you normally wear when your mom makes you meet one of her guys." Oliver's voice sounded a little strained to Lilly's ears, like he was getting tired of the conversation, or maybe like he didn't enjoy thinking about the prospect of her in a dress.

Oliver, in reality, had his eyes tightly shut when he spoke, his hands resting on the keyboard of his computer, willing all of the images flicking through his mind to just go away. There was Lilly at five when they graduated from preschool in a bright pink dress she hated. Lilly at nine at her grandfather's funeral, which his family had gone to as well, wearing a dark blue dress because she refused to wear black. Lilly at 12 in a green and yellow sundress when her mom made her wear one for an Independence Day cook out. Lilly at fourteen dressed up as Lola for a Hannah concert in a skin tight mini dress and leggings he was still amazed she was able to sit down in. And then at fifteen in an endless parade of short skirts that she seemed to have suddenly taken a liking to. The few dresses he had seen her in since she turned sixteen had all been loose, not particularly revealing, but now that she had asked about it, he couldn't help but picture her in every single one of them. And she looked amazing in all of them. He honestly had no idea what to say.

"Boys are hopeless," Lilly muttered, wishing he could actually tell her something useful about her wardrobe. She wasn't sure if she was looking for approval on the dress idea or if she was fishing for information on what he thought she looked good wearing. It was incredibly frustrating not being able to talk to her closest friends about where her thoughts were going right now. "Alright, I'll meet you at the beach after dinner. Text me if you need help on your paper or anything."

"Sure, you know, if I even get to keep the use of my phone," Oliver joked. "My mom's probably going to come in and take it away from me if she sees that I still haven't finished my paper."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm hanging up now," Lilly responded, a half smile on her face, punching the button on the key pad before she changed her mind. She didn't know what had possessed her to ask Oliver for advice on what to wear. He was never any help when she and Miley planned outfits. And he was clearly not the kind of guy who was going to tell his best female friend just what he thought she looked best in.

Instead of going back to perusing her closet, Lilly flopped down on to the floor in front of it, hoping a change in perspective would help her. If she was being honest with herself, and she didn't particularly like doing that, she wasn't worried about looking nice for the dinner. She was more worried about what she was going to wear to this party. Nick and Todd had been proclaiming it as the party to end all parties, although Lilly wasn't entirely sure what that meant when it came to Todd and Nick. It probably meant that instead of a normal kegger you could get from the rich Malibu Beach kids, Todd would rent a ball pit full of jell-o or something on a whim, and then not understand why no one wanted to dive in with him.

And of course, there was the fact that she was meeting Oliver there. He wasn't going to the party with anyone else. He had been the one who asked her if she would meet him there originally. Then he had said he could drive them both. Then yesterday, he had changed his mind again and asked if it was okay if they met there, but he could definitely drive her home. So, Lilly was a little confused on this whole "meeting" thing. She wasn't entirely sure how to treat this. Date-wear? Normal clothes? Should she really be thinking about her outfit this much?

It had to be pretty, but not too pretty. She didn't want to tip her mom off to anything out of the ordinary. And she didn't want Oliver wondering why she was all dressed up.

Of course, she couldn't go too casual either. She didn't want to wear a pair of jeans to the party. Scratch that, she didn't want to wear long pants at all. It had been so hot lately, and if she walked along the water for any reason, her clothes would be soaked.

This was really taking her way too long to make a decision.

Lilly sighed, her hair curling around her head on the carpet, when she leaned back. She did the only thing she could do. She closed her eyes and reached up to pick something at random. When she peeked through her eyelids, she was faced with a simple, nondescript khaki colored skirt. Standing back up, she yanked it from its place in the closet and threw it down on the bed next to the pale grayish-purple top that she still wasn't sure she liked, but she decided it was time to stop second guessing and just go with it.

She never took the time to really "get ready" unless she was going out to a Hannah event in her complete Lola outfit. Lola always involved twisting her hair up tightly, layers of makeup, especially around the eyes, and more jewelry that she could ever wear in a month as herself. After ironing her outfit though, she set to work. First thing first: she ran downstairs and cranked up the thermostat. Every time she thought about the night ahead, she would start to sweat, and the heat outside seeping in through the windows wasn't helping right now.

It then took her three tries to decide on her makeup.

Her first attempt was a dark eyeshadow and liner, a very rosy blush, and a dark shade of lipstick. It was too Lola. It made her feel as though she should be topping of her look with a cotton candy wig, and that wasn't the impression she wanted to give her mom's new boyfriend, or what she wanted Oliver to see when he looked at her.

Attempt number two was a summer palette. Lots of bronzer and a warm green around the eyes, complete with a bit of sparkle. It made her look too alien, too tan. It didn't look real, and she wanted to be herself more than anything. She had never worked quite so hard to dress her makeup in such a natural fashion.

A subtle blush, barely there pink, her usual eyeliner and mascara, and a natural looking eyeshadow, just a smidge darker than her actual skin tone. She surveyed her face in the mirror on the back of her bedroom door. Understated. Normal. Perfect.

She finished getting ready just in time for her mom to get home, which then meant that while Heather was hurrying to get ready, Lilly was making sure her little brother looked presentable and that the laundry she had been instructed to do was put away.

"Do we have to go?" Mark whined when they were sitting in the kitchen waiting for Heather to find the perfect pair of shoes. Well, Mark was sitting on one of the stools. Lilly was leaning against the counter, sneaking quick glances out the window every now and then to see if she could catch a glimpse of what Oliver was doing, but so far, no such luck.

"Mom wants us to meet him," Lilly responded distantly.

"Mom always wants us to meet everybody, and they're always boring." Mark rolled his eyes, the toes of his sneakers repeatedly colliding into the cabinet below the counter space while he fidgeted.

"I know. But she really likes this guy. Maybe he'll be fun."

***

Time: 7:28 PM

Forecast: Slight breeze off the coast, humidity holding steady, increased cloud cover, 60 percent chance of rain, lightning watch in effect

***

"So, Lillian, your mother tells me you want to be a teacher."

Lilly bit down on the inside of her cheek and simply nodded, not wanting to remind this guy for the fifth time that no one called her Lillian except her grandparents… and Miley's, but that was different. She twirled some more of her fettuccini around her fork, avoiding looking at her brother who was now blowing bubbles in his chocolate milk and acting even younger than he was.

Her mother launched into an explanation about how good Lilly was with kids, even though she had never actually seen her daughter interact with any children outside of the Truscott or Oken families. Lilly tuned her out when she felt the phone she had placed in her lap start to vibrate. She had been trading texts with Oliver for the last twenty minutes since he had got to the beach to help Todd out with some "project" for later.

From: Oliver

Message: Help! Get here soon. Todd is crazy!

Lilly shoved the forkful of pasta in her mouth. She wouldn't laugh. She couldn't. Chewing methodically, she pushed a few buttons on the phone with her left hand, hoping she wouldn't get herself into any trouble.

To: Oliver

Message: Trying. Dinner is so slow. What did Todd do?

As soon as she pressed "send" The Executive made another comment.

"Teaching is, of course, a noble profession, but it isn't exactly very lucrative… It really is one of the thankless jobs." He nodded his head emphatically and straightened his tie, which Lilly had thought was already as straight as it could be, but apparently it must have been a millimeter or so off center.

"What's lucrative?" Mark asked loudly before taking a larger than necessary bite of his double cheeseburger, following it up by shoving an entire sweet potato fry into his mouth.

"Profitable," The Executive answered. Seeing Mark's blank look, he added, "it makes you money." He then dabbed at the corners of his mouth with the cloth napkin perfectly folded into fourths.

"It's not really about the money," Lilly answered, shrugging her shoulders. "I want to like what I do."

There was an awkward silence after that where the man across the table from her gave her a tight smile, and Lilly picked at the small amount of pasta left on her plate until her phone shifted in her lap again. She threw a glance at her mother, begging with her eyes to steer the conversation somewhere else, anywhere else right now. Heather took the cue and launched into an endless barrage of questions about how he decided to get involved in his work, his education, all of it.

From: Oliver

Message: He wants to build a giant tower of bananas. And no. He isn't drunk.

Lilly covered her mouth and gave a few quick coughs to prevent the giggle threatening to bubble to the surface, then quickly gulped down half her glass of water, only to receive another text a few seconds later with the words "please hurry." She cleared her throat, sticking the phone back in her pocket, then hurriedly standing.

As her chair scraped back on the tiled floor, everyone at the table eyed her in surprise, Mark with another sweet potato fry half way to his mouth.

"Oh, uh… I'm just going to run to the restroom. I think I drank too much water," Lilly told them all as she walked away.

When she reached the hallway that led to the bathrooms, a group of several women walked in ahead of her, so Lilly decided it might be better to just stay in the hallway. She edged to a corner near a window and pulled out her phone, pressing the first selection on her speed dial, then waited for it to connect.

"A tower of bananas? Seriously?" Lilly asked him with a smile on her face when she heard him pick up.

"Lils, I'm really starting to think he's crazy," Oliver answered. "Does this mean you're on your way?"

"Uh, no. My mom and her date are talking about everything in the universe, so we're still at the restaurant." Lilly leaned against the wall as she spoke, peering out the tinted window to see how the weather was holding up. The clouds were darker, swirling around on the coast, but still taking a long time to move. What if it stormed? The whole party would be called off, right?

"So, you're…" Oliver prompted.

"By the bathrooms. I told my mom I'd had too much water to drink."

"You just couldn't resist calling to check on me, huh?" Oliver teased.

"Yeah, sure, that's it," she said as flatly as possible, rolling her eyes before adding, "you're the one who keeps telling me to hurry up."

"I told you," he whined, "Todd's crazy."

"Sure," Lilly laughed. "I think you just miss me." She placed her palm on the window, gauging the temperature. It was even hotter than earlier, if that was possible.

Oliver didn't say anything for a second, then finally asked, "would that be a bad thing?"

There was another pause and Lilly bit down on her lip, almost hard enough to draw blood, pressing her palm even harder against the glass pane.

"I have to go," Lilly said instead of giving him an answer. "My mom's going to be wondering where I am. I'll see you soon though."

"I'll be here."

Lilly sighed clicked her phone off, taking a minute to catch her breath before she returned to the table.

"Are you feeling alright?" The Executive asked when she sat down.

"I'm fine," she responded easily, setting her napkin down across her lap, "why?"

"You look a little flushed," he remarked.

"I'm fine," Lilly repeated, then added, maybe a little rudely to her mother as she gestured to the salad in front of her, "are you almost done with that?"

***

**A/N: Sorry that you haven't been able to get to the party yet guys, but there has to be some set up. Haha. So, how was it for what is largely filler this time around? Good? Bad? Let me know.**


	3. Chapter 3

A Change in the Weather

Part Three

***

Time: 8:05 PM

Forecast: Dangerous heat index, indoor activities recommended, lightning watch extended, no breeze through the night.

***

The air hung there, hot and heavy. Clouds had been gathering all day, but still no rain. Just this feeling that something was going to fall, and Lilly was tired of the waiting. No matter how much the clouds swirled up there high in the sky, down below the air was static, holding on to the humidity but not making any use of it. She was beginning to wonder if the weather was taking its cues from her mood the last couple of days. Motionless. Stuck in limbo. That was exactly how she felt. It was like she couldn't move forward, but she couldn't go back either. There was nothing for her to do but wait for the falling.

Lilly stood next to her mom's car, straining to see the beach from here. The sun would be going down soon, and then the party would be starting. She should never have agreed to go to dinner with her mom and her little brother. She didn't care about the new guy they met who was a part owner in some advertising firm. Lilly was pretty sure Mark didn't care either since he was standing next to her tapping his foot impatiently, waiting for their mom to finish saying her good byes.

"He's a tool," Mark muttered.

"You shouldn't say tool," Lilly sighed.

"Why not?"

"You're nine."

"But you said it."

"I'm not nine."

Mark rolled his eyes and crossed his arms before saying, "I bet he irons his socks."

In spite of herself, Lilly giggled. She had been thinking the exact same thing earlier. The guy was way too straight laced. His pants were crisp with folds down the front, even the cuffs at the bottom were starched. Definitely not as fun as the chef her mom had been dating a month ago. This was why she had to go to dinner. She couldn't leave Mark to this on his own. That just would not have been the sisterly thing to do. They might be at each other's throats on occasion, but they weren't Miley and Jackson.

The siblings watched as Heather Truscott ran a perfectly manicured nail down the sleeve of The Executive, saying something funny, because he chuckled a little nervously. Lilly could barely contain her disgust. Didn't her mother realize they were waiting? Of course she did. She just couldn't help herself. She had been single for almost a month. And since she was diving into this whole dating thing, she was trying to maximize her time, even when her kids were there.

"I think I'm gonna throw up my burger," Mark told Lilly.

She scrunched her nose up and yelled, "Mom, hit on him later, I'm gonna be late!"

Mark laughed as Heather's face turned pink, and Lilly smiled with satisfaction when their mom walked over to unlock the car.

"Was that really necessary?" she asked Lilly as she opened the door on the driver's side.

"If you would've given me the keys, I wouldn't have cared," Lilly shot back before getting in the car.

"So, what'd you guys think? He's nice, right?"

Lilly could feel Mark holding his breath in the back seat, waiting for her to speak first. She hesitated and settled for, "he gets a point for not being scared of kids."

Heather relaxed her grip on the steering wheel, pulling out of the parking lot and into the direction of the beach. Parking meters outside of tiny stores filled Lilly's vision as they drove.

"He was wearing long sleeves," Mark said, "in the summer!"

"Technically, it's not summer yet. School isn't even out," Lilly pointed out.

"But it feels like summer," Mark argued.

"I thought it was a very nice shirt," Heather responded carefully, her grip on the wheel tightening again.

"It was the color of pee," Mark told her petulantly.

Lilly burst into laughter, and Heather followed shortly after.

"Oh my god, it was!" Heather gasped, trying to keep her eyes open and on the road.

"Yeah, sorry mom, but he's a no," Lilly added through her giggles, looking out the window again as the sky lit up just off the coast.

"Was that lightning?" Heather asked, suddenly all business. She could switch from date-Heather to mom-Heather at the drop of a hat.

"Just heat lightning. It's been like that all day. It's moving out to the water now." Lilly had been half hoping for the rain to fall, contemplating skipping out on the party, but the clouds were moving further and further off the coast, a mass of swirling gray and pink in the twilight.

"Hmm… maybe I should just take you home." Heather tapped one of her brightly polished nails on the wheel when they stopped at a light.

"No!" Lilly couldn't stop the shout. Even though she had been thinking about not going, she had promised she would meet Oliver, and Lilly always kept her promises. It didn't matter how tense she was about actually going to this party, she was going. Eve if her mother said no, she was going. She tried to compose herself and added a little more quietly, "I'll just come home if the lightning gets too close. I'll make Oliver drive me."

She kept her gaze on the world outside the window, and even though she was sure her mom was looking at her now, she refused to turn and meet her eyes. The air conditioning was turned up so high, the windows were fogging against the heat of the outside. Lilly ran a finger through the condensation and watched tiny drops of water bead where the tip of her nail touched the glass.

"You want to talk about it, honey?"

"Talk about what?"

Heather didn't answer the question, and Lilly just sighed, drawing a happy face at the bottom of the window before using the heel of her hand to wipe it away. They pulled away from the light, and Lilly saw another parade of parking meters and small stores before they started hitting the kitschy boutiques and bistros. For a second, but only a second, the thought crossed her mind that her mother was exactly the kind of person she could talk to about boy trouble, but it flew away and she kept on staring.

"Can I go to the party?" Mark called from the back, one of his feet kicking into the back of Lilly's seat to get their attention.

"No," Lilly and Heather responded in unison.

"Why not?"

Heather chuckled before saying, "it's for older kids. There wouldn't be anyone for you to play with."

"But Lilly said Oliver's going to be there," Mark whined.

"I think he'll be busy playing with Lilly," Heather said shortly, then realized what that sounded like when Lilly gave a muffled gasp. "Oh, you know what I mean," she muttered to her daughter.

"Mom! I can't believe you said that!" Lilly's shoulders shook as she tried not to laugh, simultaneously horrified and amused.

"You're the one who made it dirty," Heather shot back, lifting one finger from the steering wheel to point vaguely in Lilly's direction.

"Because it sounded so wrong!"

"What was dirty?" Mark asked curiously.

"Don't worry about it," Heather called to her son. "Lilly's just being crazy."

"I'm not crazy!" Lilly protested. "And if I was, I probably would get it from you."

It felt like a lifetime later when Heather eased the car into a packed parking lot near a familiar stretch of beach.

"Do you need any money?"

"No, mom."

"But you don't have your purse!"

"I've got pockets. Besides, I don't think I'll be buying anything. And yes, I have my phone. And my house key."

"Remember…"

"No drinking. I know, mom."

Lilly met her mom's eyes and gave her a small smile.

"Alright, well, have fun with Oliver." Heather winked at her daughter and Lilly had to roll her eyes before she left the car.

She could feel her cheeks burning as she walked down the sidewalk on the edge of the parking lot. She knew there was no reason to be embarrassed. The two of them had faced teasing by their families and other friends since they were about 12. It was par for the course when your best friend was a member of the opposite sex. But now, well, now she actually put a little credence in the teasing. It didn't matter that she never actually told her mother that she had more than friendly feelings for Oliver now. She was a mom, so of course, she knew. There was a big part of Lilly that wanted to call Miley everything and have a long talk about it, but she didn't want to weird Miley out either. Besides, after the eleventh text message about how amazing Chace Crawford was to work with, Lilly had a feeling they wouldn't be talking about her guy problems when she called, and she really didn't want to talk about Chace Crawford right now.

As she stepped down from the wooden walkway that descended from concrete sidewalk to sand, she was forced to take her sandals off. Tiny grains of sand kept getting caught between her foot and the shoe, and it wasn't particularly comfortable. The straps dangled from her fingers in one hand, and the clouds off the shore caught her eye. Miley would never believe the weather. It had been sunny and bright with a light breeze for the last couple of months before she left. Lilly popped her phone out of her back pocket and angled the tiny camera lens on the horizon. She caught the pink of the sunset and dark gray of the swirling clouds as they met the blue of the water. It looked like something out of a painting. Just as Lilly snapped the photo, she felt an elbow in her side.

"Hey," Lilly turned her head to meet Oliver's eyes.

"Whatcha doin'?" he asked her, noticing the phone in her hand.

Lilly showed him the screen, moving close to him to ensure they could both see it.

"Just taking a picture. I've been waiting for it to rain all day."

"Yeah, me too. I thought if it got bad enough Nick would have been forced to call the party off like you said, but I guess not." Oliver shrugged his shoulders and a piece of hair fell across his face. Lilly's hand itched to move it away, but she just shoved her phone back in her pocket and started walking towards the group of teenagers that were setting up a bonfire.

"So, what's up?" Lilly asked, deciding to try for casual conversation, pushing all the scenarios she had tortured herself with earlier out of her mind.

"Just Todd trying to get people to start up a kick ball game. He gave up on the banana tower. And Nick trying to get his older brother to bring him a keg. And Sarah lecturing people on not recycling their soda bottles. You know, the usual." Oliver reached into a cooler near them as he spoke, fishing out a bottle of cherry soda. "You want one?"

"No thanks." Lilly smiled.

"How was your mom's date?" he asked, twisting the top from the bottle and sticking it in his pocket.

"In Mark's words, the guy was a tool," Lilly told him laughingly.

"That bad?"

"No, he wasn't that bad, just not right." She paused, watching Oliver take a sip from the soda bottle, her heart beating a little faster than normal when she looked at his mouth, then added, "he's the kind of guy who irons his socks."

"So, nothing like the chef then."

"Exactly. I mean my mom always looks at the job first, then the person. You'd think she'd know better by now." Lilly continued walking, squinting her eyes against the setting sun.

"Your mom just wants you guys to be... secure," he told her, keeping his pace slow enough that she was forced to drag her feet a little. He wasn't in any hurry to get into the rest of the growing crowd.

"Yeah, but there's more than money. She needs someone who isn't so... starched. Someone who'll make her laugh, someone she doesn't have to try so hard around. I mean, security isn't just about paying the bills, it's about _feeling_ safe, about..." Lilly took a few shallow breaths and stopped, knowing that she wasn't just talking about her mom anymore. They had stopped walking again, and she ran a hand through her hair, feeling sweat starting to form on her hairline.

Oliver nodded his head in understanding, just as Sarah walked up and decided to remind him that the glass bottle he was carrying around needed to be recycled. "I just started drinking it!" Oliver protested.

"Well, when you're done," Sarah informed him smartly, "make sure you recycle it!"

Lilly bit down on her lip, trying not to laugh, glad for the distraction from Oliver that Saint Sarah offered right now. She and Oliver needed to talk, no question about it, but in the middle of a party with a bunch of other people around might not be the best time. Maybe she should have asked if they could ditch the party. No. Her palms started to sweat just thinking about it, though that could have just been a result of the temperature.

"Lilly, did you hear about my beach clean up I'm organizing for next weekend?" Sarah asked, not letting Oliver make another retort.

"Uh… no."

Sarah linked her arm though Lilly's and began explaining about the smaller sections of the public beach that were starting to look awful, especially ones near restaurants where people had no consideration for the environment. Lilly found herself walking along with Sarah and actually listening to her, not noticing that Nick had grabbed Oliver to talk.

"So man, you and Lilly, huh?" Nick asked him, clapping a hand on his shoulder.

"Me and Lilly what?" Oliver tried to make his voice sound confused, but he knew the fact that he was watching Lilly head down to the water with Sarah, the sun setting ahead of her, was probably not helping.

"Come on, you can tell me," Nick goaded, looking from the girl in question back to Oliver.

"Sorry Nick, but there's nothing going on." Oliver took another swig from his soda, but his eyes stayed on Lilly. His lie wasn't going to be all that convincing if he couldn't tear his gaze away from her. A best friend did not ogle you like a piece of meat, right? But, she looked gorgeous and he just couldn't stop watching her. She was laughing at something Sarah was telling her, her head thrown back. He never realized the two of them got along so well.

"Then why haven't you stopped staring at her?"

Oliver groaned and turned to face Nick. It wasn't his fault. She was wearing a khaki miniskirt and one of those weird oversized shirts with the really floaty material and the collar of it hung really low. He could see the skin between her shoulder blades from here every time her hair moved.

"Nick, what do you want?"

"I just want to know why you haven't made a move yet, man." At the glare on Oliver's face, Nick held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "Look, it's obvious you like her. I'm not sayin' anything that everyone else here isn't thinking."

"Everyone?" Oliver repeated, his eyes wide. He was sure the panic could be heard in his voice.

"Uh, yeah." Nick rolled his eyes and waved Todd over. "Todd, my man, do you think Oliver has a thing for Lilly?"

Todd tucked the red playground ball he had been carrying under one arm and nodded vigorously. "Dude, Oliver's always had a thing for Lilly."

"What? I haven't always…" Oliver trailed off, knowing denying it was useless, even though he and Lilly had, in the past, both repeatedly told Todd they were just friends. "Fine. You win." He turned his head slightly. Sophie, a girl he had been doing an excellent job of avoiding lately, had joined Lilly and Sarah by the water, letting the waves just touch the tips of her toes, a pair of heeled sandals dangling from her hand. Lilly wasn't facing the water like the other two were though. She was looking at Sophie and the expression on her face was most definitely one of annoyance.

"So, dude, what're you going to do about it?" Todd questioned, tossing the ball into the air with one hand and catching it with the other.

"What d'you mean what am I doing? I'm not doing anything. Lilly's my best friend. Telling her would screw everything up."

"Or it would make everything really fun," Nick countered. "Sorry," he added when Oliver narrowed his eyes at him again. "Force of habit. But seriously, you need to do something about it before someone else does."

"What are you talking about?"

"If you don't ask Lilly out, another guy's gonna beat you to it. In case you haven't noticed, Lilly's kind of… awesome," Nick told Oliver sarcastically.

"Todd never asked Lilly out, and he liked her for a long time," Oliver pointed out.

"Dude, I would never ask out a girl I knew you had a thing for," Todd explained.

"Besides," Oliver sighed, "every time I've tried to do anything about it, something happens. I think it's fate telling me not to do it. We're supposed to just be friends."

"The path to true love is never easy," Todd said seriously.

"Really, Todd? You been smelling Ashley's hair lately?" Oliver deadpanned, remembering his freak out when he thought he was dying before figuring out that Ashley Dewitt gave him butterflies.

"No way, man. I'm totally over her. That chick's kinda crazy." Todd looked over his shoulder as if making sure one half of the most popular duo in school wasn't anywhere near him. "You know, she actually likes celery." He glanced back at Oliver with a look that was supposed to inform him that liking celery was one of the cardinal sins in Todd-land.

Of course, Todd was probably still traumatized by the kindergarten "ants on a log" snack that Oliver always found fun to play with: celery, peanut butter, and raisins. Todd had always thought they were real ants on real miniature logs, no matter how many times the truth had been explained to him. Ashley had been eating celery sticks at lunch for the last couple of weeks; apparently her best friend Amber thought their carb intake had gone a little high.

"I told you she was missing a few brain cells," Nick agreed, then looked past Oliver and Todd to see what Lilly was doing. "Is it just me, or does Lilly look like she's about to scratch Sophie's eyes out?"

"Lilly doesn't scratch. She kicks. Hard," Oliver muttered, turning back to look at her again.

"Dudes, I wonder what Sophie did to her?" Todd asked.

"Why don't we go find out?" Nick said cheekily, grabbing the red ball from Todd and starting to jog over to the three girls.

"Oh, crap," Oliver mumbled to no one in particular as he and Todd followed. Being anywhere near Sophie was always an experience he liked to keep to a minimum. She was nice, but very clingy, and maybe a little on the crazy side as well. She had been asking him out at least once a week since he broke up with Joanie, and no matter how many excuses he came up with, she just kept checking again the following week.

"You should learn how to surf," Lilly was saying to Sophie, her eyes narrowed as Nick reached them.

"But, aren't there sharks?" Sophie whispered, gesturing to the water.

"Shark attacks are actually very rare," Sarah explained carefully and she and Lilly exchanged amused glances.

"Oh."

"Skateboading would be a plus too," Lilly remarked off hand.

"I could get hurt!"

Lilly just shrugged. "And you should get highlights," she added, her voice sugary sweet as she stepped just out of range of the incoming surf and a bit further from the other girl.

"Really? You think he'd like that?" Sophie asked uncertainly. "My mom always says my dark hair is one of my best features."

Nick's eyebrows shot up and he slowed his pace, trying to figure out if this was something he should interrupt or not. It sounded like it was going to be way too much fun of a conversation.

"It's pretty, but not his type." Lilly's voice still held the sweet tone to it, but her eyes were still glaring, and Nick thought he understood. Very few things could make Lilly go all "Mean Girls" on someone anymore. She was usually more straightforward than that.

"No way!" Sarah cut in. "You don't want to put all of those chemicals in your hair. They're just awful!"

"Yeah, I like your hair," Nick added, draping an arm around Sophie's shoulders, deciding to give Lilly a break before she got up enough steam for physical violence.

"Uh, thanks?" Sophie looked a little uncomfortable and tried to step away from Nick. He let her go, turning to smile at Lilly and Sarah.

"So, ladies, Todd's trying to get a kick ball game going. Any takers?"

"In the sand?" Sarah asked skeptically.

"Yep, with the ocean as the outfield." Nick waggled his eyebrows at them and Lilly had to laugh.

"No way. Last time I did that, the second baseman kept dunking me and I went home soaked. It was freezing!" Lilly exclaimed, stepping slightly closer to Oliver when he and Todd joined them. She tugged on the hem of her shirt a bit, trying to stop it from sticking to her in the heat.

"So, we won't let Nick play second base this time," Oliver joked, letting his arm brush against hers, trying to forget the conversation he just had with the other two guys while the heat from her skin rushed through him.

"Wouldn't that all make the game harder? Being out in the water like that? Running in the sand?" Sophie asked.

"That's totally the point," Todd answered her easily.

"Yeah, you're lucky we're not playing in Todd's neighborhood. When we play on his street, there's a red shirt rule." Nick gestured to Sophie's bright red tank top as he spoke and Oliver tried to cover up his snort of laughter by taking a sip from his soda.

Sophie looked more confused than ever as she shook her head in confusion, and Lilly tried to hold in her giggle. If she didn't get the Star Trek reference, there was no way Sophie was going to understand the rest of Todd's convoluted rules for kick ball outside of school.

Sarah just rolled her eyes at Nick's antics. He was still doing his best eyebrow wiggles at Sophie while he tried to explain the rules to her.

"And if there's a banana at third base…"

"Why would there be a banana at third base?" Sophie cut in.

"Dude," Todd answered, "why wouldn't there be a banana at third base? As the person who usually plays third base, I try to keep one in my pocket at all times… until I get hungry." He eyed her like she was crazy, and Sophie kept her mouth shut to listen to the rest of the rules.

Lilly shared a smile with Oliver. For some reason their friend was really into the yellow skinned fruit today. But, he was like that, becoming completely obsessed with something out of the blue and the forgetting all about it a few days later. While Todd and Nick explained the rest of the rules, a few more people gathered around, intent on getting in on the game.

"I don't remember that one," Sarah whispered to Lilly and Oliver, "but I don't usually play."

Todd had just informed everyone that if a member of the opposite team said the word "strawberry," the pitcher had to roll the ball with his eyes closed, but that tactic could only be used once per team.

"I think he just made that one up," Lilly responded. "He likes to add a new rule every time he plays the game. I'm not really sure how pitching with closed eyes would benefit the kicker though."

"Remember dudes," Todd added, "you have to play barefoot. There are no shoes allowed."

"Ouch. I think I'll just watch," Sophie muttered, again trying to step away from Nick who was apparently trying to attach himself to her for the evening. Lilly wondered why no shoes was the deciding factor for her. Her shoes were open toed sandals with kitten heels. It wasn't like those would do her much good.

"Oh, and the new rule added last game," Nick grimaced as he spoke, "was that if you try to slide to a base to avoid getting tagged, because when we play, you have to be tagged, no forced outs, the penalty is you have to kiss the baseman, and believe me, nobody wants to do that." Nick threw a disgusted look at Todd.

"That's not seriously a rule?" Lilly asked loudly, itching to put some distance between herself and Oliver now. The thought of that possibility made her skin heat up all over again.

"What are you worried about?" Nick asked her smugly. "You plan on doing a lot of sliding in that skirt?"

"No, I just think that's not a fair rule." Lilly shook her head, hands on her hips, determined not to let Nick get to her.

"You think it's not fair? I tried to slide in to third last time we played cause I forgot about it," Nick shot back.

Oliver raised his eyebrows and asked, "who was playing third base?"

"Who do you think? Banana boy over there always plays third."

There was some hooting and hollering at that and Nick gave Todd another disgusted glance before announcing that they were going to pick teams. Lilly giggled, imagining how that must have gone down. Nick probably ran out to by mouthwash as soon as possible. He and Todd were close, but they weren't that close.

When she calmed down, she announced, "I want to be on Nick's team."

"Alright, Truscott, I always knew you were one of the cool kids," he remarked, pulling her over to his side.

"What?" she asked when Oliver looked at her in disbelief. "If I'm on his team I won't have to kiss him, and he can't try to drown me at second base."

"That's a really good point," Sarah agreed, "I want to be on Nick's team too."

Lilly gave her a high five as she joined them and Nick started to look a little disgruntled.

"Wait, how come nobody wants to be on my team?" Todd wondered aloud.

"Look at it this way," Oliver explained, "they're both more willing to kiss you than Nick."

"Hey!" The protesting voice came from Nick himself and a chorus of laughter followed.

"But, Lilly and Sarah are really good kickers, so dude, I totally should get Oliver if you get the two of them."

"No problem," Nick agreed quickly, bouncing the red ball from knee to knee.

A little too quickly for Oliver's liking, and he had a feeling he knew exactly where Nick's mind was. "Then I want to play second base," Oliver cut in.

"You wouldn't," Lilly told him in mock surprise.

"Hey, all's fair in love and kickball," Oliver told her sweetly, not paying attention to the phrasing until it was too late to take it back.

Lilly's eyes widened and several of the people in the gathering crowd looked back and forth between the two of them.

"Well, Oken, I hope you're ready to lose," Lilly finally told him, just as sweetly.

"You wish," Oliver shot back with a wide grin. But, if there was one thing he had learned from his friendship with Lilly, it was that she always found a way to beat him.

***

**A/N: Sorry I had to cut it here, but it was getting really long, and the next part is even longer. The next part is also the last part.**


	4. Chapter 4

A Change in the Weather

Part Four

***

Time: 10:59 PM

Forecast: Chance of rain diminishing, storm clouds stalled off the coast, should see cooling temperatures overnight, lightning will gradually dissipate

***

It was a couple of hours and a failed game of kickball later when someone finally managed to get the music working consistently while the bonfire raged, and Lilly was standing off to the side with Sarah and Oliver. She had managed to avoid getting thrown into the water by Oliver during the game by being the last member of the team to kick. Nick's team had played pretty miserably since not very many people had understood Todd's rules, and they had eventually conceded defeat. She had teased Oliver for a while that there would one day be a rematch, but he was having none of it, proclaiming himself the kick ball victor, and they were now watching Nick try to teach Sophie some new dance moves. She had no idea why the self proclaimed ladies man had suddenly taken such an interest in the girl he usually thought was crazy, but she was grateful. If the girl asked her or Sarah for one more piece of advice on winning Oliver over, she was going to hit her. Possibly in the face. She giggled as Todd cut in, doing some sort of bird like dance move that made his arms look twice as long as they were. She hurriedly snapped a picture of him with her phone. Miley would get a kick out of that when she was back from filming.

"Lilly," Sarah hissed suddenly, "he's coming!"

Lilly's eyes widened, and she stepped closer to Oliver, peeking around his side to see if Sarah was right. She was.

"Damn. I thought I did a pretty good job of avoiding him." Lilly slipped her phone back in to her pocket and picked her sandals up from the ground. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom or something."

"You can't hide in the bathroom all night," Sarah said. "Just tell him no."

"I've been making excuses all night. Eventually, he's going to corner me."

The same boy had been asking for a dance every song since the music had started playing. The first song, Lilly had begged off with the excuse that her right foot was sore from the kick ball game. The second song, she simply avoided him by helping Sarah take some recyclables out to one of the special plastic bins set up. Third song, she said she was too hot to dance and was going to get some water. Fourth song, she went to the bathroom. And so on. She was beginning to run out of avoidance tactics.

"What are you talking about?" Oliver asked them, grabbing Lilly's arm to stop her from running off.

"Hi, Wally," Sarah said before either girl had a chance to explain, inclining her head just passed Oliver.

"Hi."

When he exhaled, Lilly heard the air whistle through his nose and she suppressed a shudder, forcing a tight smile to her face instead. She decided she was just going to have to get this over with so he would leave her alone, so she braced herself. After all, it couldn't be that bad. The play list Todd had going had been nothing but fast songs all night. Just as the thought crossed her mind, the tempo slowed and suddenly there were a lot more couples on the sand in front of them. Of course.

"Lilly, I was wondering if I could have this dance?" Wally asked her stiffly, followed by a slight whistle and a dip forward as though he had been about to bow.

She had been completely prepared to say yes, really she had, but then, there was a split second vision of his arms wrapped around her waist and him whistling in her ear, and she just couldn't do it. The thought made her skin crawl. It was definitely nothing like the feeling of having Oliver's hand grasped loosely around her forearm. There was no crawling skin there. More like nerve endings igniting and trying to leap through it.

"No, sorry, I can't." She tried to make her expression as apologetic as her words, but her tone was too flat for anyone to really think she was sorry. This was the tenth time she had turned him down, and she felt badly, but she just could not do it. It wasn't right.

"Why?" he asked her curiously.

"Um…" Panic filled her eyes and she glanced at Sarah for help.

"Because someone else just asked her, right Oliver?" Sarah said, a wide smile on her face, reaching a hand out to Lilly. "Go ahead, I'll hold your shoes." Turning to Wally, she asked him, "have you heard about my beach clean up?"

Oliver dropped Lilly's arm in shock as she handed the shoes over to Sarah, and Lilly had to practically drag him the five feet to the group of people dancing while Sarah started in on her lecture. She led him into the middle of the group, away from Wally's watchful eyes and saw Todd give her a thumbs up sign. She didn't really want to know what that meant right now.

"Oliver," Lilly said quietly when she realized they were just standing there, Oliver's eyes on Nose Whistle Wally, not her, "you're gonna have to put your hand on my waist at some point."

"Right, sorry!"

He seemed to snap out of where ever it was his thoughts had taken him, and placed one hand on the small of her back, pulling her just a little closer to him. He took one of her hands in his own, going for the more formal route, not sure how long he would actually be able to dance with her without doing something potentially disastrous for their friendship if both of his arms were around her. He swallowed uncertainly, seeing Wally's eyes following them from his spot next to Sarah.

"That guy's a little creepy."

"Yeah, we Truscotts seem to attract the weird ones."

Oliver felt a small smile cross his face, and he pulled her even closer, letting his feet follow the music. The hand he had on Lilly's back felt hot, almost like her skin was burning his through her shirt, but he pushed even further into it, reveling in the feeling of his arm being around her. His heart was pounding and he gulped down a groan when she moved a little bit closer to him, their joined hands resting almost against his own chest. This was crazy. They couldn't keep doing this. Sooner or later, he was going to snap. And as close as she was to him right now, it was probably going to be sooner. When Lilly tucked her head beneath his chin, he took a deep breath, attempting to calm his nerves. Apples. He always loved the smell of apples. Closing his eyes, he just breathed her in for a few minutes before realizing Lilly was still talking to him.

"What? I didn't hear you."

"I said thanks. I_ really_ did not want to dance with him."

Lilly closed her eyes against Oliver's skin and gave a little sigh. This was right. She _fit_ here. It was like sliding together the last two pieces of a puzzle. She had to make him see that, but she wasn't entirely sure how. She felt the pressure of his fingers on her lower back increase slightly, and another sigh escaped. Her heart was jumping in her throat, but she didn't want to walk away. She wanted to stay right here. Curling her fingers around his shoulder, she gripped the fabric of his shirt tighter, wanting to just wrap herself up in it where she felt safe. Where Nose Whistle Wally wasn't waiting at the other side of a group of dancing teenagers. Where those dancing teenagers wouldn't be looking at her if she did something rash.

"Yeah, I gathered that."

Lilly giggled against his neck, and Oliver had to focus on something, anything, other than the feeling that produced. He eyed the skyline, watching the clouds shift as the song played on, neither of them saying another word. When the song came to an end, and the notes shifted into a new one, he saw a brief flash of light just off the coast.

"Looks like the storm might be coming back after all," he muttered to her hair, not wanting to let her go just yet.

"There wasn't lightning, was there?" Lilly asked, jerking her head away from where she had been leaning against him, feeling a knot forming in the pit of her stomach.

"Yeah, just a quick flash, why?"

Even though the song had ended, his hand was still on her waist, and as she slipped out of his grasp to turn and look up to the sky, he found the heat was still there on the palms of his hands.

She told him, "I think I'm going to have to go home."

"Because of lightning on the water?"

"I told my mom if it started up again, I would make you take me home," she told him, a small smile on her face, her cheeks pink.

"You'd make me? I guess that's one way to avoid Wally," Oliver told her chuckling. "Sure, let's go."

"You don't mind? If you wanna stay, I can always-"

"Nah. It looks like Nick's brother just showed up with his keg anyway. My mom would kill me if I stayed for that. Let's get your shoes."

Oliver led her over to Sarah and Wally, returning his hand to the small of her back to guide her, feeling like it belonged there despite the fire the action produced. He threw a glare in Wally's direction for good measure as Lilly took her sandals from Sarah and told her goodbye. Wally opened his mouth as though he had something to say, but at seeing Oliver's arm curled almost possessively around Lilly's waist, he wisely decided not to attempt to ask her for a dance again. They walked in companionable silence through the sand, Oliver sneaking glances at her out of the corner of his eye every so often.

When the two of them reached the parking lot, Lilly paused to slip her sandals back on, and she turned to take a picture of the party from up above with her cell phone.

"Why didn't you just bring your camera?"

"I didn't want to be that girl taking pictures of everybody all night. I just used my phone whenever I saw something cool." Lilly shrugged, putting her phone in the back pocket of her skirt again, grabbing his arm to lead him further into the parking lot.

Oliver unlocked the passenger side door of his mom's car first, holding the door open for Lilly without really thinking about what he was doing.

"Thanks," she whispered as she climbed in.

"Right."

Oliver nodded awkwardly and shut the door behind her before getting in on the driver's side. Clearing his throat, he stuck the keys in the ignition, but he could see Lilly out of the corner of his eye again. He couldn't help looking at her. Her hair was a little frizzier than she would normally let it get. She kept combing her fingers though it, trying to push it back behind her shoulders. He paused in turning the keys, watching as she crossed her legs at her ankles, turning slightly to look at him, reaching behind herself for her seatbelt. She leaned forward slightly as she pulled on the belt, and Oliver found himself glancing down at the opening in the neck of her shirt, seeing a flash of skin. If she leaned just a little further forward…

No. He shouldn't be thinking that right now.

But she did lean forward a little bit more as the belt became stuck and his eyes just kept looking. He could see the tan line from her latest bathing suit top and-

No. That was it. He couldn't do this.

Oliver scrambled for the driver's side door and climbed out of the car, almost tripping in his effort to get onto the pavement, his breathing ragged. Lilly watched him in disbelief, her hand frozen on the seatbelt, inches away from pushing it into the latch. She let go, allowing the belt to snap back into place and opened the passenger side door as well, quickly hopping to her feet.

"Oliver?" she asked uncertainly, edging her way around to the back of the car as the door slowly fell shut on its own.

He was leaning against the trunk, his hands shoved in his pockets, staring straight ahead. Lilly poked him in the arm, and he slowly turned his head to look at her.

"What's wrong?" she asked him, wringing her hands now.

"I don't think I can keep hanging out with you like this," Oliver whispered hoarsely.

"What?" Lilly felt like she had just been thrown from the top of a building, the air sucked from her lungs, and the ground rushing up to meet her. Yes, this had to be what that felt like. Spine crushing and terrifying.

But Oliver didn't hear her. Or maybe he pretended not to. His stomach was churning and his blood was pounding in his ears, but he knew he had to say this. They were alone in the parking lot. Actually alone. There was no one around to interrupt him this time. Everyone else was down on the sand. And he had to get this out. Even if it was the worst thing he could possibly do.

"You're driving me crazy," he continued, and he closed his eyes against the hurt expression that crossed her face.

It was a testament to their friendship that Lilly did not interrupt him after that. She stood there, silently, waiting for an explanation, knowing that this was one time where her informing him that he had always been crazy would not be the right approach. His eyes opened again, but he found himself staring at the pavement instead of her.

"You're just so frustrating! I mean, you always get the upper hand when we fight. Sometimes it takes me two days to have a come back ready for you."

He passed a hand over his face, envisioning what she looked like when they fought, when they really got going. Her eyes bright, color in her cheeks, hair wild, her body invading his personal space, so close, he was always the one to get backed into a corner. He had to swallow a groan at they very thought. It was even worse than what dancing with her had done to him.

"You always call me on my crap. You never let me get away with anything!"

Lilly felt the corner of her mouth begin to quirk up, because it was true, she didn't, but the look on his face stopped her from laughing or even giving a slight smile. This was serious. He almost looked like he was in pain.

"You're everywhere all the time. When I'm not around you, you're still _there_. I found your lipgloss in the backseat of my dad's car last week. The coconut kind you've been wearing. I don't even know how it got there."

Lilly frowned now. She had thought this might be going somewhere else, but now she wasn't sure. They couldn't hang out because her make-up was in his dad's car? That was… odd.

"I threw away a bunch of my old history notes yesterday. There was more of your handwriting on them than mine. When I went to Rico's without you the other day, I ordered your favorite smoothie instead of mine."

Lilly's frown deepened. She was more confused now. It wasn't like she didn't have random messages from him scrawled throughout all of her notes too. Her favorite had something to do with having a Malibu tea party. It made her laugh every time she came across it. And, so he made a mistake ordering a drink. How was that cause for dissolution of friendship? Was this his way of telling her they were too close? Maybe he wouldn't like that she wanted to be... closer. Maybe he really didn't feel the same way. Maybe she had imagined everything.

"I was looking for a sweatshirt the other day too and realized that I was missing half the ones I own. You have them. And I don't even care. You can keep them."

Oliver laughed a little bit, and to Lilly, he almost sounded a little hysterical. Her eyes widened when he went on though as it hit her just where this conversation was really headed. She had hoped, but she hadn't actually expected this.

"The one on the back of my chair that I went to grab tonight before I left, it smelled like apples. Like your hair. And I stood there for ten minutes trying to figure out if I should wear it or not. Because I _love_ that smell. It's you. But I don't want to smell like a girl. I didn't want people asking me about it, or noticing it when you were near by. I didn't want to explain myself. So I left it there."

He paused to take a breath, shaking his head, and Lilly could feel her heart squeezing in her chest. He had just told her that he didn't care if she stole his clothes and he loved her smell. She opened her mouth to try to talk because she felt that she just had to explain why it was his clothes that she liked, but he kept going.

"And my pillow, well, not my pillow, but the other one on my bed, on the other side, it smells like you from the last few times you've been in my room to watch movies. There's even a small smudge from your eyeliner on it too. I should have washed it, but… I wake up in the middle of the night, and the smell's right there… and I know it sounds crazy, but I always think you're in my bed."

Oliver's cheeks were pink now, and he was shuffling one of his feet, afraid to look at her. He wasn't entirely sure how she was going to react to what he had to say next. It didn't matter that they had experienced all of these near misses over the last couple of months. He could easily have misinterpreted any of those moments, but he was at the end of his rope here. He just hoped he wasn't ruining everything.

"When I wake up, and think you're there…" Oliver had to pause to clear his throat. "I'm always disappointed when you're not."

Lilly froze at that, her breathing shallow. She didn't know what to say. Oliver finally brought his eyes back up to hers. She tentatively took a step closer to him, leaning her hip against the back of the car.

"You really?" she whispered, the rest of the sentence catching in her throat, the smallest of smiles beginning to cross her face.

"Yeah." Oliver nodded, turning his body so that he was mirroring hers. "And I just can't keep doing this."

"Doing what?" Lilly asked, tilting her head up to look at him, not wanting him to keep dodging her gaze, needing the full explanation. No more secrets.

Oliver didn't look away as he told her, "pretending that I want to be your friend." The next words rushed out of him like he had been saving them up his entire life. "I know that you _are_ my best friend, but I can't just… Because friends don't want to drown a guy when he wants to dance with their best friend. A friend doesn't wonder, _all the time_, what it would be like to be more. A guy doesn't keep thinking how hot his best friend is when she's in a bikini or a miniskirt or pretty much anything she wears." Oliver felt the color in his cheeks rise again, and he groaned, "Especially not his own clothes. God, you look really good in my clothes. Lilly, I don't care that we've been friends since we were four. I don't care that this changes everything. Okay? Because I can't just keep trying to ignore it. It's not working. I'm going insane."

Lilly nodded her head when he was done, biting her bottom lip as she absorbed everything he said. She knew it was superficial and shallow, and she had known that he thought she was pretty, but the first words out of her mouth were, "You think I'm hot?"

Oliver groaned again, not believing that was what she needed confirmation on. "Lils, you're… you're amazing."

He reached out, not really sure if it was the right thing to do since she hadn't given him anything to work with, and he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. That's what the guys always did in the movies. It had to be worth a shot. He didn't pull his hand away when he was done either, letting his fingers graze her cheek.

For about ten seconds Lilly forgot how to breathe. She decided right then and there though that if it meant having Oliver's hand on her skin, she didn't need air. It just wasn't necessary. Because the feeling of anticipation in the pit of her stomach taking over for the knot that had been there earlier in the night was so much better than a little bit of oxygen. Except that wasn't realistic, and she sucked in a breath when he started to take his hand away. Lilly quickly brought her arm up, grabbing on to his hand as he began to lower it, lacing her fingers through his.

Leaning a little closer to him, Lilly told him, "I happen to think you're pretty amazing yourself, Smokin' Oken." She paused, quirking an eyebrow at him before asking, "didn't you ever wonder why I steal your clothes?"

"I just kind of figured you like torturing me," Oliver muttered. He was still stuck on Lilly thinking he was amazing. And actually referring to him as Smokin' Oken. That had to mean something.

"It's not like I've ever stolen Jackson's clothes when I hang out at Miley's." Lilly's fingers tightened their grip on his hand, wanting him to understand.

"Well, Jackson doesn't exactly smell great… or remember to do his laundry." It was like it hadn't even registered in his mind that Lilly was holding his hand.

"I've hung out at Nick's and Todd's houses and I've never taken any of their stuff either."

"Todd wouldn't notice if you did." Oliver paused, shifting just a little bit closer to her. "But if you were walking around wearing Nick's clothes, he and I would have a problem."

"Really?" she asked a smile on her face again.

" Do you not see how many girls Nick goes through on a regular basis? And did you not listen to anything I just told you?" he asked incredulously.

"Of course I listened!" She rolled her eyes. "Obviously you're still not getting that I only want your clothes because I want you!" Heat flooded her face at the admission.

"Yeah?" he asked, a grin snaking its way across his face, dipping his head closer to hers.

"Yeah."

His forehead touched hers and they stayed like that for a minute until Lilly couldn't take it anymore.

"Aren't you going to kiss me?" she questioned him.

"I don't know," Oliver teased her. "Every time I try, something gets in the way." It was easy to admit now that he had actually been repeatedly trying to kiss her the last couple of months.

"That doesn't mean you should stop trying," she shot back.

Lilly angled her head and moved her mouth closer, deciding she was tired of waiting on him, but at the last second Oliver pulled his head away and looked around.

"What?" Lilly groaned, a little off balance.

"Just making sure there were no parents, or brothers, or anything else to stop me," Oliver responded before putting his free hand on the small of her back again and pulling her close to him.

Lilly heard so many girls say that the first kiss with a guy was the true test of whether or not a relationship would work. If the kiss didn't feel right, the relationship didn't feel right. A lot of first kisses weren't amazing, but there was always that something underneath it, letting the couple know to keep trying. There had to be sparks. In the moment when Oliver's lips first made contact with her own, she had no doubts whatsoever. There was no going back. Not ever. Because there weren't just sparks. Which really shouldn't have surprised her. When did they ever do anything on a small scale?

It wasn't anything cliché like fireworks going off in her brain, or feeling like she was flying, or the whole world coming to a stand still either. It was lightning. Okay, maybe that was a little cliché, but it was the only worthy comparison. A complete and utter shock to her system. But one that she never wanted to stop. It didn't matter if she was completely fried after. It was worth it. So worth it.

She could feel everything. The tips of his fingers on her lower back through the thin fabric of her shirt, just above the waistband of her skirt, barely there, not pushing, just enough of a presence to let her know he would hold her up if she needed it. The sharp metal of the car's license plate scraping against her leg, reminding her where they were. The smell of salt in the air was somehow more defined than it had been earlier, blending with the subtle smell of whatever cologne he was wearing. The smoothness of his palm against her own, which she had to abandon when she reached up with both hands to hold on to his shirt, needing him to be even closer, her fingers curling around the fabric. And of course, his mouth against hers, pressing firmly, fusing them together.

Standing on her toes, Lilly leaned forward even more, her body pushing insistently against his, and Oliver's mouth opened in a sharp gasp when they stumbled. Lilly took the opening as an invitation, having always been the forward one in their relationship. She could taste the cherry soda he had been drinking earlier. It was sweet, almost too sweet. Then his hand she had been holding before was around her waist as well, then reaching up, between her shoulder blades, helping her keep her balance and tracing a path across the skin exposed by her top, causing her flesh to erupt in goose bumps. And it was sensory overload.

Lilly broke the kiss, gasping for air. She stood there in a daze. She had never imagined, and she had a very vivid imagination, that a kiss could feel quite like that. It wasn't that she had never kissed anyone before, because she had, she had even kissed Oliver when they were younger and under a mistletoe at a Christmas party, but that was just a quick peck to fit tradition, and this was so, so different. Her skin was on fire and her knees may have even been shaking a little. Her head was spinning, even the soles of her feet were tingling. From just one kiss.

"That was…" Oliver searched for a word, panting, but he couldn't think of anything that would accurately describe the way he felt right now. It was almost like he was underwater, his ears buzzing and his mind foggy. Sleep was going to be hell tonight. So were his dreams. Every time he shut his eyes, he was going to see Lilly, just as she was now, her eyes glazed, her face flushed, trying to catch her breath, at a complete loss for words. And all because of him.

"I, uh," Lilly began, trying to say something. She couldn't just leave it like this. Talking about what was going on. That had to be important. But then the hand he had near the top of her back shifted slightly, and she could feel his fingers hot against her skin as they moved. And she wanted more. Her back arched into his touch of its own accord and she felt herself moving toward him again. She had to focus. Abruptly she let go of his shirt, grabbing his arms, pulling them from around her, and took a step back, her eyelids heavy.

"What? What's wrong?" Confusion crossed Oliver's face. Everything had been going so well. Had he done something wrong?

"I can't think with you doing that," Lilly told him, a statement which probably would have embarrassed her if this was even twenty minutes earlier, but now, she felt she owed him an explanation for suddenly pulling away. A cocky smile began to form on his face and Lilly rolled her eyes, reaching forward to smack one of his arms with the back of her hand.

Oliver laughed. Maybe this wouldn't really change anything after all. She still seemed to enjoy smacking him when she thought he was an idiot.

"So…" he started, trying hard to keep his feet cemented to the asphalt. It took an almost superhuman effort to do so. It was way too tempting to just close the distance between them and not do any talking for a very long time.

"So," Lilly echoed, peering up at him through her eyelashes. Thinking might have been overrated. She shouldn't have stepped back. She needed to feel his hands on her skin again. Taking a half step forward, Lilly opened her mouth to tell Oliver just that. And then she heard the footsteps of someone's high heels clicking on the sidewalk not far away. She turned her head and saw Sophie walking toward them, eyes on her phone, having not noticed the two of them yet. "So," Lilly continued, changing her mind, "I was thinking, maybe I don't have to go home, but we should get out of here."

"You in a hurry?" Oliver asked, concerned that she was trying to get away from him, his brain not processing that she had just said she didn't have to go home.

"No! No, it's not that," she started to explain, understanding the fear that laced his expression, just as Sophie popped open the trunk of her car, took off her shoes, and tossed them inside.

"Hey guys, are you leaving?" Sophie asked, shutting the trunk, and walking down the strip of asphalt between the two rows of cars when she noticed she wasn't alone in the lot.

"Yeah, I was about to take Lilly home," Oliver told her quickly.

"Oh, well, the party's just getting started, are you going to come back?" she asked, oblivious to Lilly's clenched jaw and narrowed eyes.

"No, I don't think so. Probably just gonna hang out at Lilly's... or something."

"Oh, cause you know, if you were planning on coming back, I would save you a dance," Sophie let out in a rush, smiling brightly.

"You don't have to do that," Lilly snapped, stepping in front of Oliver so Sophie could see her face clearly.

"I just meant, you know, if he wanted to." Sophie's smile began to falter, noticing for the first time just how hostile Lilly's expression was.

"He doesn't."

Lilly started to take another step forward, and she felt one of Oliver's fingers slip into the belt loop on the back of her skirt, pulling her closer to him. Her back against his chest did not exactly have a calming effect, but she didn't try to get away. Her skin heated, muscles tightening, and she considered that she might have to invest in an icepack to carry around when she was with him, as she watched Sophie look back and forth between their faces.

"But, I thought…" Sophie stammered, unsure what had happened since she last saw the two of them.

"He's no longer available. Sorry," Lilly continued, not sounding sorry in the least.

"Oh, um, I'll just…" And Sophie turned back around heading for the beach.

Lilly felt herself deflate a little bit, sinking back against Oliver as she watched Sophie walk away.

"That was a little harsh wasn't it?"

"Oh, yeah, a little," Oliver whispered, one of his arms circling her waist. "But definitely hot."

Lilly leaned her head back to look at him, saying, "you have a serious problem, you know that?"

"Hey, if I have a problem, I think you have one too. You're the one who, what was it you said, wants me?"

Lilly tried to glare at him, but she couldn't, not this time, she was too happy that everything was finally out in the open. She turned slightly, feeling his hand slide across her abdomen as she did, and kissed him softly, barely a brush of her lips against his, letting him know, that yes, she most definitely had the same problem, but then she was quickly squirming away when she felt the hand he had on the belt loop make its way to her back pocket.

"What are you doing? You just reach into a girl's pocket without asking?" Lilly joked as she tried to pull away from him.

"Pfft. Only yours. I'd definitely ask anyone else."

For a second, Lilly thought that maybe she should be concerned that Oliver was so comfortable with this in such a short time when they hadn't even really defined what was going on here, but really, she had reached into his pockets before when his hands were full. And she kind of liked that he was obviously going to be using any excuse he could to touch her. Besides, they were on the same page now. No definition needed. Oliver brought his hand back around between them and turned the camera of her cell phone on.

"I think you need a reminder of the day you almost tackled Sophie over me." He winked at her.

"Of course," Lilly muttered, rolling her eyes. "You know, you're lucky I don't have my purse with me. Any 'surprising physical contact from the opposite sex' and I'm supposed to use my safety siren," she continued, teasing him.

It was Oliver's turn to roll his eyes. "I can't believe my mom gave you that for your birthday."

"What? She worries about me."

"Yeah, but I don't think she meant for you to use it on me, especially since I'm apparently no longer available for anyone else but you," Oliver responded with smirk.

"Are you sure?" Lilly pretended to think about that. "Maybe I should call her and check. You know, see if it's alright to use it if you get out of hand," she added, reaching for the phone that Oliver immediately held up over his head to prevent that call.

"I don't think that's necessary," he told her, snapping a picture as she stood on her toes, one hand on his waist to balance herself.

"That is going to be the worst picture ever," Lilly said, settling back on her heels when she realized there was no way she was going to be able to reach the phone without tackling him in the middle of the lot. While the idea was appealing on the one hand, she didn't think the logistics of it would be all that satisfactory.

Oliver brought the phone back to where she could see it, then jerked it away again. "I'm only letting you see if you promise not to call my mom."

"It's my phone!"

"What's your point?"

"Fine."

He opened the picture back up and Lilly saw their faces fairly close together, Oliver laughing, and her with a flirty smile on her face as she glared up at him.

"Huh."

"What?" Lilly asked him, noticing he was staring at the screen on her phone, surprised.

"You're kinda cute when you're not getting your way."

"Shut up."

"No, I mean, I knew you were cute normally. And you know, when you're yelling at me, or when you're yelling at other people, but you're still cute when you look like you're about to fight me." Oliver gazed into space as he thought about that, and a smile started to cross his face again.

She smacked him lightly in the chest with the back of her hand before his mind went too far down the gutter. Yep, Oliver thought to himself, nothing was really all that different. Of course, then he kissed her, and he was left wondering how much trouble he would get into if he decided to not take her home. Ever. Maybe things were a little different.

He broke away from her as he considered something. "You do realize that Sophie loves to gossip right?" he asked Lilly.

"So?"

"So, in the next, I'd say, fifteen minutes, everyone on that beach is going to know that I'm no longer available."

"Good." Lilly shrugged her shoulders and walked around the car, opening the door, and sliding into the passenger seat.

Oliver laughed as he got in behind the wheel.

"You're kind of possessive, you know that?" he asked her, neither of them putting on their seatbelts just yet.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," she countered, leaning towards him.

"Not at all," he murmured, his head moving closer to hers.

"Oh my god!" Lilly jumped back from him as reality came crashing down on her. Sophie really was a gossip, which meant everyone would know. Everyone. "What are we going to tell Miley?" She braced one hand on the door, and the other on the console between them while she prepared to go into full drama queen mode, realizing for the first time that the feelings she had for Oliver had been the only secret she had ever kept from Miley.

"Hey," Oliver whispered, sensing the imminent freak out, "we have three weeks before she comes back. We'll figure it out." He slung an arm around her shoulders pulling her as close as he could with the seatbelt latches and console between the two of them. "We don't have to tell her anything if you don't want to. I mean, she's Miley. She's not going to take it very well, no matter what we tell her."

Lilly thought about what he said, leaning her head against his shoulder, and she took a deep breath. He was right. Miley not knowing, at least for a little while, could be a good thing. She placed a soft kiss on his jaw, just below his ear, and only said, "okay."

"Okay?" Oliver asked, his eyes meeting hers.

She nodded her head just before she kissed him again. And again.

"You know," he mumbled against her mouth, "I can't drive you home if you keep kissing me." Even as he said the words, he was trying to pull her closer.

"I know."

Off in the distance, another bolt of lightning struck the surface of the water, but the rain never fell.

***

**A/N: It's done. Over. I've finally got to the point where they are together in my stories. You can all stop telling me how I should let them get together already! Haha. After What I Don't Like About You aired, I was very much anti writing the beach party, did you guys know that? I liked reading everyone else's ideas of what happened, and I didn't really have my own right away. I wasn't sure if I even wanted to know what really went down. But, I have to admit, this chapter is one of my favorites that I've written. I don't think it's my best, but I like where it went. And I like that I ended up not focusing on that first dance, but on what happened after. Secret? This was also actually the first part of this story that I wrote. Well, the dialogue where Oliver spills his guts to Lilly and her reactions to all of it was actually the very first thing, and then I wrote around it for this chapter from there. I don't usually write backwards, but this time, I think it worked for me. So, thoughts? Concerns? Criticisms? Want to throw me a party? Want to hang me by my thumbs? I want to hear it all. Even if you absolutely hated it. Or, you know, if you loved it. Tell me. I want to know.**


End file.
